


culture things

by taebaegi (Mokoniki)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-22 04:05:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 9,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13755942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mokoniki/pseuds/taebaegi
Summary: 18 different encounters with 18 different boys.





	1. Taeyong

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't necessarily meant to be a reader insert fic (and it's why I didn't tag it as one), but readers may read it like that if they wish. This is based off a Tumblr post I found that was inspired by the NCT Yearbook #2 video, which I will be linking to when this is completed, because I feel it's kind of spoiler-y to the other boys' chapters and I want to keep some sort of anticipation. Also I used the Boss MV as inspiration for some of their looks. These chapters will also be quite short.

Heavy amounts of smoke permeated the club room and made it hard for you to breathe, but you persisted. The flashing fluorescent lights made it easy enough for you to locate the bar and you made your way to a stool to sit. The bartender was friendly enough and you got your drink quickly and without much hassle. Sipping on your drink and looking around, you took in the scenery.

 

Dozens of people were out on the floor dancing, bodies sweaty and grinding. The music had the whole place vibrating and buzzing with excitement. It was something anyone with an ounce of rhythm could dance to.

 

Your eyes landed on the folks near you, around the bar. There were several men knocking back drinks, some with women hanging off their arms and others mourning their daily lives. You were startled when your eyes landed on a man directly across from you, also sitting at the bar, staring you down.

 

His hair was a bright red and a part of his left eyebrow had been shaved. His glass was raised, held by his fingers with his palm blocking his mouth, so all you could see was his eyes. His gaze was so intense it was unsettling, but you found that you couldn’t look away from him. You could see his shoulders shaking and it made you wonder. Was he laughing?

 

The man lowered his glass to reveal a shining lip ring dead center on his bottom lip. His lips quirked up and you realized his amusement at having caught you drinking in his features. He downed his drink and, with a lick of his lips, gave you a once over as well. You started internally panicking, hoping not a hair was out of place. You wondered what he thought as he stared you down, because he gave no reaction to what he saw.

 

You were distracted when the bartender approached you, asking if you wanted another drink. With your approval he quickly whipped up something else for you. Looking back to the red-headed man, you were disappointed to find him gone. Your head quickly whipped back and forth through the crowd, hoping to find him in the sea of people.

 

You were only a little guilty about the relief you felt when you found him. He was speaking to the DJ, who nodded his head and did some quick changes to play a new, equally as energetic, song. He then headed back to his seat as the song was playing, locking eyes with you once again.

 

You both sat and stared at one another, sipping at your drinks. You couldn’t get a good gauge on what he was thinking. His face remained blank. There were no quirks or emotions present on his face at all. He even began playing with his lip ring but it did nothing to key you in to any of his thoughts.

 

You felt your heart drop a bit when a girl approached him. She began to heavily flirt with him, and he seemed interested. There was a smile on his face as he spoke with her. However, moments into the conversation, he shook his head and promptly shooed the girl away. Even in spite of this encounter, several more girls approached him and he sent each of them away, his eyes only focused on you.

 

He _was_ interested in you, but he made no effort to approach you. Fueled by your liquid courage, you knocked back the drink in your hand and stood up.

 

With every step you took towards him, the smile on his face grew larger.


	2. Jaehyun

You weren’t much of a gambler—hell, if you were honest you weren’t one at all. But here you were anyway, in a popular casino in town. You didn’t have any interest in wasting away any of your money, instead you watched as people wasted away theirs.

 

People who had a clear addiction to destructive tendencies fascinated you for a reason you had yet to pinpoint. Gambling was just an easily accessible addiction to spy on. Something you could get in on without really indulging yourself in. You could keep your hands clean.

 

As you perused the various games, your eyes landed on a poker table where dozens of the casino patrons were gathered around. Squeezing to the front of the crowd to see what the commotion was, your eyes landed on two players.

 

The man on your right was sweating bullets, looking back and forth between his cards and his opponent. The man on your left was the complete opposite. He was laid back, feet even propped up on the table, a smirk on his face as he waited for the man on the right to make a move. You couldn’t help but notice he was dressed head to toe in designer clothing. He was obviously quite rich.

 

You didn’t know anything about the rules of poker, but the chips on the table were stacked very high, so you assumed quite a bit of money was on stake. You watched as the crowd oooh’d when the sweaty man placed cards on the table, their eyes all landing on dapperly dressed man to see how he would respond.

 

His response was a snort, throwing his cards on the table. The crowd erupted into loud cheers as the man removed his feet from the table and puled all the chips to his side. He was the victor from what you could tell. He stood from the table, leaving the sweaty man to mourn his losses.

 

“Drinks for everyone!” he called out, which made the crowd even louder. The crowd immediately ran to the casino bar, leaving you and the victor (and the crying loser who was still at the table) alone. He was quick to notice you hadn’t left yet. His head quirked to the side.

 

“I haven’t seen you around here before.”

 

After directing you to the bar and grabbing the two of you a drink, the man, whose name you learned was Jaehyun, had directed you to the roof of the casino, far from the chaos and drunken camaraderie of the common casino bar area.

 

You found he didn’t seem too interested in socializing with the bar patrons, even in spite of him buying drinks for everyone.

 

“They’re all broke regulars. So boring,” He said, sipping at his drink without looking at you.

 

“But, there’s something different about you,” You were flattered, but also confused. You didn’t feel any different from the people who frequented the casino. When you questioned Jaehyun, he chuckled.

 

“Like I said, I haven’t seen you here before. Not to mention you didn’t seem the slightest bit phased by me offering to buy dozens of people drinks. You must have some money to burn if you aren’t that excited by the prospect of free stuff.” The wind ruffled his clothing and you noticed that he tattoos on his neck and his hands. You wanted to ask what they were for, but you didn’t want to pry. You didn’t know what he could be affiliated with.

 

Jaehyun knocked back the rest of his drink and rose from his resting place to smile at you.

 

“Want to have some fun?”

 

Several hundred dollars later, you find out Jaehyun was the owner of that very casino.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about poker, so I took as many creative liberties to not describe the game as I could, so I apologize for that. I feel the card game was less important in the end anyway and more just a means to introduce Jaehyun.


	3. Jungwoo

You had been dragged here by a friend for the purpose of “loosening up”. College parties were not something you went to often. Not because you disliked them, but because you just didn’t have the time. This was your first bit of downtime in quite some time.

 

Your friend had quickly abandoned you in favor of a game of beer pong, leaving you to fend for yourself in the crowd of sweaty, drunken partygoers. You took a cup that was nearby and sniffed it, hoping whatever it was wasn’t contaminated and sipped at it. You watched other kids dancing and chatting, but kept to yourself for the moment. You weren’t familiar with any of the people here, so you felt strange just going up and chatting with someone.

 

You made eye contact with a blue-haired boy in a similar predicament as you across the room. You both exchanged small awkward smiles before going back to what you both were doing, which was nothing, so you found yourself watching this stranger.

 

He seemed to be quite into the song that was playing, tapping out the rhythm on his cup and bobbing his head along. He ignored most everyone who approached him, unless he knew who they were, at which point he was very eager to converse with them. A smile blossomed on his face and he chatted with them quite enthusiastically. His friends, however, quickly moved along without him, once again leaving him against the wall by himself.

 

Eventually, as the party got crazier and the party animals got rowdier, the gap between the two of you closed, and you found yourself shoulder to shoulder with the wallflower boy.

 

He directed a smile at you, a much more sincere one this time, but he still didn’t speak to you. You both watched as the partygoers lost their minds, trashing the house you were in. You were thinking that perhaps you and your newfound wallflower friend should leave.

 

Turning to look at him, it seems he had the same idea in mind, and the two of you exited through the front door. You were only slightly worried about your friend, but if they were willing to leave you alone in a strange party it only made sense for you to return the favor right? You didn’t stick together for long. He gave you a smile and a wave and went on his way.

 

The next morning, you found out from your friend that the party had been crashed by the police and several partygoers had been taken in for various reasons. You also found yourself beginning to keep an eye out for your blue-haired wallflower friend as you walked around campus.


	4. WinWin

You were so nervous you couldn’t even eat the plate of food that was in front of you. You had finally been hired by one of the top companies in Korea and you were experiencing your first company party.

 

You felt a little out of place, having worked your way to your current position without the same connections as your peers. In spite of that, you felt pride at having worked so hard and having achieved your goal.

 

You overheard some people talking about how this party was held by the son of the CEO, as if said son wasn’t actually in the room with them.

 

You didn’t know much about him; all you knew was things you had heard through the grapevine. His name was Si Cheng, and he was the apparent heir to the company. The company had roots in China, which was where Si Cheng had been born, but he had been groomed from a young age to take over the company’s Korean branch.

 

You had only seen him in pictures, but he was always present for the various company parties. He was said to be a shy kid, but was enough of a party animal that he attended every party he could.

 

However, it was well known that Si Cheng rarely mingled with the crowd at his own parties. He was always spotted observing the crowd silently. He at least had the sense to greet folks who came up to him, but aside from that he kept to himself. It was an odd trait that left him at odds with his father.

 

However, gossip was gossip, and you really knew nothing about Si Cheng so you didn’t have much reason to think about him. Right now, you were here to enjoy yourself with food and drink and not make a fool of yourself.

 

You excused yourself from your table, deciding to head outside on the nearby balcony for some fresh air. You breathed in the cool night air, taking some time to calm yourself from the hustle and bustle that was inside. You couldn’t help but feel a little unsettled, as if someone was looking at you. Turning around, you nearly jumped out of your skin when you saw Si Cheng behind you. He gave a small smile at your shock, amusement in his eyes.

 

Gaining your composure—you realized who this was in front of you, and you immediately bowed to him. He shook his head, waving away your bow. The two of you simply stared at one another and you felt even more unsettled by this. Si Cheng didn’t say a word to you, he simply stared.

 

His eyes bore into you, rather intently, as if he was appraising you. After some time, he shook his head and headed back inside. Confused, you decided to awkwardly follow behind him. You had had enough of your fresh air anyway.

 

Back in the main hall, you tried to mingle some more with the partygoers, but felt Si Cheng’s eyes on you continuously. Whenever you looked at him, his eyes seemed empty as they stared at you, almost as if he was sad or disappointed. You felt ashamed and even a bit embarrassed, even though you had no real reason to feel that way. You hadn’t done anything wrong. So why was Si Cheng staring at you as if you had just failed an extremely important test? He was basically your boss, so to feel as if you had disappointed him, it was all more than a little nerve-wracking.

 

You excused yourself once more, hoping Si Cheng would follow you. And luckily for you, he did.

 

In the back of your head, you realized being alone with Si Cheng was extremely questionable. You didn’t know what he was capable of, but you also figured he wouldn’t be willing to talk in the presence of others. You questioned him about his strange behavior. Si Cheng shook his head. He stepped out from the doorway and onto the balcony. He made his way to your side, but didn’t make eye contact with you.

 

“Father wants me to take over the company, but I really don’t want to,” he finally said after a few moments of silence. His voice was gentle, almost like a whisper. If you weren’t listening to him very closely you probably wouldn’t have heard him.

 

“Father’s pretty mad about it. But it doesn’t bother me. The company is more of a nuisance than anything else.”

 

You weren’t really sure what Si Cheng expected you to say. You worked for the very company he seemed to abhor. You couldn’t just badmouth it to appease him. Not to mention you didn’t have any particular problems with work regardless.

 

“It’s okay if you don’t agree. I know you can’t,” Si Cheng made direct eye contact with you as he said this. “I’ll just take care of everything myself.”

 

As Si Cheng walked back inside, you didn’t doubt the promise he made for one second.


	5. Ten

The house was rather bare to be the home of a fashion designer, you thought.

 

You were a freelance photographer who had been pretty hungry for work when you were contacted by this “Ten” to take photographs of his home in Gangnam. You knew nothing of the fashion world, but Ten was a big name inside and outside the industry because of his quirky personality and unorthodox methods. How he got your name you didn’t know, but you weren’t complaining. He was paying you after all.

 

The décor of the home clued into just how… interesting he was. For one, the house barely had any furniture, and what existed was nothing but white furniture. White furniture that was completely covered in cat fur.

 

Ten was known for his love of black cats, and you could tell. There were at least five of them walking around in the living room alone. You didn’t know if he had anymore, but you wouldn’t be surprised if he did. There were also plenty of portraits of him and the cats all over the walls, their black fur being the only thing standout in the unrelenting white of the home.

 

The cats were all friendly enough, a few of them coming to greet you, tails raised and gentle meows emanating from them. You bent down to give some of them a few pets and ear scratches.

 

“Aren’t they wonderful?” It almost sounded like he purred the question as you stood up and met Ten face to face. He was dressed in all black, a lace choker around his neck, and his hair neatly parted and slicked. The many cats in the home approached him and he picked one up, cooing at it gently and scratching at it’s head.

 

“People treat them like they’re a horrid nuisance but they’re as sweet as any cat out there.” He became absorbed with petting and talking to his cat, and he seemed so obsessed with the cat it felt like he forgot you were there. Clearing your throat was enough to get his attention back on you.

 

“Ah, yes, you’re the photographer. Take pictures of anything you’d like,” that was very vague, and you asked if he could narrow it down. He sighed.

 

“If you must take photos of something, take them of the cats. I could always use more photos of my babies,” and Ten went right back to cooing over the cat in his arms.

 

It was at this point you wondered if taking this job was a mistake, but then you remembered this guy was rich and money was never a mistake, so dealing with this would all be worth it in the end.

 

“Oh yes,” Ten’s eyes lit up. “Perhaps you could take some pictures of my perfume. Give it a little promo perhaps?”

 

Ten reached into his breast pocket, pulling out a bottle of his perfume, a small square plaque with a cursive “Ten” emblazoned on it.

 

He pressed down on the nozzle, spraying perfume into the air and using his hand to fan it towards him. The scent eventually drifted towards you and you’d admit it was a nice scent.

 

“Fabulous isn’t it?” You just found it easier to agree with everything he said at this point.

 

Ten placed the perfume down on a nearby table, allowing you to get a few shots of it. As you were working, Ten was again enamored by the cats, all of them flocking to their master. You knew he had to be aware of the omens about black cats, but perhaps he kept them precisely because of that. You decided to snap a few shots of Ten with the cats. You found them to be quite cute, the cats rubbing against his hands and legs. He even leaned forward at one point to touch noses with one of them.

 

As you looked over the photos, you realized Ten was quite photogenic. You had done a small amount of research on him and learned he was known for picking his own models for his clothing. You wondered if he himself would ever consider doing any modeling. When you asked him about it, he snorted, but didn’t take his attention off the cats.

 

“I don’t model.” He responded with a tone of finality that you decided it’d be best not to bring it back up. You continued to take pictures of the décor, the cats, and a couple shots of Ten himself.

 

As you looked over your work and allowed Ten to choose the photos he felt best to represent himself and his brand, Ten’s phone started going off. He answered with that same purr in his voice that he greeted you with. He let out a chuckle after listening to whomever was on the line.

 

“Taeyong, you know full well I’m not showing up. I don’t know why you even asked. I leave everything in your hands for a reason.” You felt the distinct need to pry.

 

“Yes, yes, well, just tell me how everything goes when it’s over. Thank you, my dear friend.” Ten hung up his phone and went back to staring at your camera. You asked him if you were keeping him from something important. He shook his head.

 

“Not really. Just a runway show.” _Just_ a runway show? Your eyes widened. Ten smiled at your expression.

 

“I don’t go to my own shows. I have other things I could be doing instead of spending my time with all those stiffs, like binge watching Netflix or spending time with my cats.” His eyes showed a wistful and faraway look and you wondered what he was thinking about. He eventually turned back to your camera to look at the shot that was displayed.

 

“Ooh, I like that one, it catches Jupiter’s eyes very well.”

 

If there was one thing you knew, Ten was the most interesting client you’d have for quite some time.


	6. Jisung

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, work's been kicking my ass and I most likely won't be posting two chapters per day like I was originally doing. As a result, I'll use this weekend to get as many chapters done as I can to keep posting daily. Also I just wanted to say thanks to anyone who has read this story. :)

This wasn’t the usual path you took to get home, but you wanted to try something different today. Work had been dull and dreary and you wanted to go home, but you wanted something to break up your monotonous day-to-day life. You were too busy to take spontaneous trips, so most of what you could do was break up the routine with little things. Like taking the path less traveled.

 

The path was along a railroad track, one that had been long out of commission. You occasionally came down this route when you wanted to spice up your walk home. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting about it, but it was still different enough from the norm that it managed to interest you.

 

As you contemplated what you were having for dinner when you got home, you were surprised by a crashing sound and a whispered curse from ahead of you.

 

You ran ahead to see what it was and found a teenage boy on the ground, apparently having fallen of his bike, as it was right next to him, wheels still spinning. He was rubbing at his leg and concerned for him, you ran to him, asking if he was okay.

 

Murmuring that he was fine, he pushed you away and grabbed the bike, wheeling it a few yards or so away from the track before hopping back on. He began peddling the bike towards the track as fast as he could, lifting the front of the bike in an attempt to hop over the railroad track. He managed to get the front wheel over it, but the front wheel ended up getting lodged in the track when it came down and it sent the boy flying. He looked like he was going to hit the ground head first and panic set in for you as you watched.

 

You ran towards him in an attempt to hopefully catch him before he hit the ground, but he managed to break the fall with his arms. It wasn’t a very graceful landing.

 

You began yelling at him at that point. Was this kid crazy? He was doing this without a helmet or any kind of protection. He was going to hurt himself doing all of this, if he hadn’t already. He scoffed, getting up and dusting himself off.

 

“Leave me alone, I can do this just fine, even with a couple screw ups.” He said it quite confidently, and he seemed to be annoyed that you were interfering with his efforts. It left you quite baffled, so much so, you didn’t even say anything else as he picked up his bike and attempted to do the stunt again.

 

You questioned whether to stop him again; he seemed hell-bent on completing whatever stunt he was doing. You watched with a racing heart as he peddled towards the track, praying this kid didn’t kill himself in front of you. He attempted the same trick as he did before, pulling the front wheel up, but this time avoiding the mistake he made before. He made it across unscathed, causing you to breathe a sigh of relief. The boy couldn’t contain his excitement, letting out several cute laughs as he rode his bike near the track.

 

You found him dumb, but cute. You also noticed he was dressed rather nicely. There were some very nice school uniforms out there, but this boy was wearing a suit. A suit which had gotten extremely dirtied from his biking, but a suit nonetheless. What was such a rich kid doing around here?

 

You shook your head; it really wasn’t any of your business. You decided to go home at this point, leaving the boy alone because you figured at this point, you wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing anything else crazy. You didn’t want to be around for any possible carnage.

 

As you walked home, you heard the distinctive sound of bicycle wheels behind you. You tried to ignore it because you really did not want to believe that boy was following you, but the sound was beginning to grate your nerves. You didn’t know why he was following you and that bothered you immensely.

 

Turning around to look at him, you managed to catch a glimpse of him fooling around with the handlebars of his bike as he biked along, his feet not even on the pedals, but he put the breaks on to stop the bike. He had been looking at you and his face remained blank when you caught him.

 

He shrugged when you asked why he was following you, kicking at the dirt on the ground with a pout on his lips. You told him that he should think about going home. It was going to be dark soon and it wouldn’t be smart for a kid like him to be out so late. The boy let out a huff, throwing himself over the handlebars.

 

“I don’t wanna go home,” He murmured. You shook your head at his childish dramatics and asked him if his parents would be worried about him being out so late. He huffed again, pushing himself up and playing with the handlebars, pushing them from side to side, turning the front wheel as he did so.

 

“My parents couldn’t give less of a shit about what I do.” He didn’t make eye contact as he said this, nor did he seem particularly bothered about how his parents weren’t the most caring parents out there. You suddenly felt bad, because this kid was out here all alone by himself, riding a bike around doing dangerous stunts. You were probably the first person in quite some time to show any kind of concern for his well-being.

 

Sighing, you turned around and began walking again. You didn’t hear the wheels of the boy’s bike spinning to indicate he was following you, so you turned back around. You saw him staring at you the pout still very much on his lips. You told him if he wanted to be treated to dinner, then he better follow along.

 

That caused a small smile to appear on the boy’s face and he immediately pushed the bike forward.


	7. Jaemin

Jaemin definitely needed you here. He hated his family’s social functions and he was grateful to have someone to talk to.

 

The two of you were currently away from the party, reveling in the general solitude of Jaemin’s room, although eventually the two of you would have to go downstairs.

 

You and Jaemin were childhood friends, both reveling in the apparent loneliness of having high status and overbearing parents. You weren’t much of a rebel; you did what you were told and still had a few other friends you could hang out with in the event Jaemin was busy or had other things to do.

 

Jaemin, however, was a quiet kid and you were the only person he ever really talked with. His reserved behavior did not do much to attract others to him and he didn’t seem to have any other friends that you knew of.

 

You also knew he hated his parents’ status and in an act of rebellion, he got a single piercing in his right ear. The earring he wore wasn’t small either; it was his name in very large font, the earring nearly reaching his shoulder. It dangled and moved with every movement he made.

 

His parents hated it, thinking of it as a slight against them personally, and Jaemin paraded around with the piercing as a result. Jaemin and his parents had been at odds ever since. You had been over for many a tense family dinner whenever your parents didn’t join. They had consistently asked him where he had gotten the piercing, but he always refused to disclose that information to anyone, even to you.

 

You found Jaemin to be an odd, yet genuine kid. But that was only when he was with you. He was very sweet with you and you could tell he genuinely appreciated your friendship, even if he never said it verbally to you. It was the small things he did, giving you small trinkets he picked up that made you see how kind he was to you.

 

Everyone else he treated with a general air of indifference. There were even times you would catch him silently smiling and muttering to himself when he didn’t know you were there. You could never hear what he was saying, but it always did concern you. You could never get a proper read on him; you never knew what he was thinking about.

 

You were so caught up in your thoughts, you didn’t even realize Jaemin had been shaking you, his eyes filled with concern when you finally turned to look at him. You apologized, telling him you had spaced out from thinking. He nodded, giving you a small smile. He never liked to pry.

 

You both decided to head back to the party, Jaemin immediately putting on his usual bored expression when he wasn’t with you to keep people away. You greeted a few people here and there, but generally kept up with Jaemin so he would have someone to talk to. Otherwise he’d be sticking to the walls or find a seat in order to not speak to anyone.

 

You happened to glance in the direction of both of your parents. Your parents were busy chatting with others around glasses of wine, but found Jaemin’s parents staring at the two of you. You could tell their eyes were trained on their son, looks of disappointment darkening their eyes.

 

You decided to look away, not wanting to see them looking at their own son like that. You considered yourself lucky your parents did not treat you the same way Jaemin’s treated him. You wondered if their treatment of him was the reason he was so reserved now.

 

Jaemin handed you a snack from a plate of appetizers he had gathered, the two of you eating in relative silence. As you were eating, the two of you were approached by some friends of yours. You greeted them cheerfully and when they turned to Jaemin, he gave a small bow to them. The smiles they returned were apprehensive, but they grew genuine when they turned to look at you.

 

“Hey, why don’t you hang out with us for a bit? It’s been a while.”

 

You turned to look at Jaemin, who was busy still eating appetizers from the plate he had. You knew he heard what they had been discussing, but he still remained silent about it. Turning back to your friends, you began to apologize, wanting to tell them you couldn’t join them since you were with Jaemin, but you were stopped by Jaemin himself.

 

“If you want to hang out with your friends, then you should. Don’t let me stop you,” Jaemin smiled, a genuine one and you returned it with a smile of your own. You told him you’d be back soon, getting up and walking away with your friends.

 

“You know,” one of your friends began whispering into your ear, “You really shouldn’t let that kid control who you hang out with.” You looked at your friends confused. Jaemin wasn’t controlling who you hung out with at all. It was your decision to be with him. You voiced this to your friends, who looked at you disapprovingly.

 

“We get it, you guys have been friends since you were kids, but don’t you think it’s weird he doesn’t have any friends aside from you?” You did think about it from time to time, but it really wasn’t any of your business what Jaemin did when he wasn’t with you. You decided it be best to drop the conversation and told your friends as much. If they couldn’t be respectful about Jaemin, and wanted to do nothing but badmouth him the entire time, then you didn’t want to be with them.

 

They immediately apologized, dropping the conversation to talk about something else. You took the time to look back at Jaemin and found him looking at the table. The light in his eyes from earlier, from when he was chatting with you, was completely gone. He made no attempt to seek out conversation with anyone else.

 

As you watched, you saw his lips quirk up in a smile. You couldn’t help the small amount of worry that filled your heart when you saw that.


	8. Yuta

Your captain flew right past everyone and straight into his office, slamming the door behind him. Everyone looked at each other, knowing he saw the graffiti that had been sprayed on the side of the police station’s building.

 

The infamous “Yuta” had struck again and the police had been pulling their hair by the roots trying to determine who he was. He had been a nuisance for the past couple months, originally going around marking buildings in town with various profanities or even just his name. Clean-up would be extensive, because he would sometimes mark several buildings in one night and would make sure it was large enough to cover a wide area of the building.

 

The police station had been the most recent victim of his attacks. You believed he did it on purpose to annoy you all.

 

There were no leads. There had been no confirmed sightings of Yuta in action, even with him leaving a can of his spray paint nearby wherever he had last marked. Fingerprints couldn’t be lifted from any of the cans he used, leaving you all to believe he uses gloves when he works. Aside from that, he never left behind any kind of evidence he had been there.

 

It was frustrating, honestly. You had all been putting in a lot of time and resources into finding this kid, but he continued to outsmart you. You were all at your wit’s end.

 

You were walking home after yet another stressful day on the job. Your captain had hired someone to clean up the graffiti Yuta had left behind and it took all day for it to be cleaned up. Looking at it be cleaned up served as a reminder that Yuta had yet to be captured.

 

You were so caught up in your thoughts, you bumped right into someone, knocking the papers you had in your hand right onto the ground. You let out several awkward apologies as you bent down to pick up your papers, trying to grab them as quickly as you can before they blew away with the wind. The stranger you bumped into also offered his help, picking up what he could get that was within his reach.

 

You both managed to get them all, although you’d definitely have to go home and sort them in the proper order. You stood up to greet him and offer your thanks, meeting mischievous eyes and a large smile.

 

He waved his hand dismissively. “It was nothing, don’t worry about it.” He then walked off, leaving you to stare at his back as he left. You were grateful to the stranger, wishing you could pay him back for his kindness, but he didn’t seem particularly interested in it given how quickly he had left. You continued your journey home.

 

The next morning, on your way to work, you encountered the young man again.

 

“I didn’t know you were an officer,” he said, a teasing lilt to his voice. You didn’t even know where he had came from, you had just suddenly found yourself being followed by him.

 

You explained that you worked at the police station which had recently been vandalized by Yuta. He hummed at your comment, but didn’t say anything more.

 

You noticed a book in his hands and a few markers in his hand. You questioned him about it, causing him to bring the book forward.

 

“Ah, it’s nothing, just a couple of doodles.” He said with a smile, opening the book to allow you to take a look. It was a sketch book, filled with dozens of interesting doodles. Some of animals, some of people, some of buildings; the styles also varied from realistic to cartoony. You were quite impressed.

 

He became bashful when you commented on the quality of the work.

 

“I’m still a student, so I still have a lot to learn. I go to an art school here in the city, you should visit me there, Officer. My friends will all think I’m cool that my senior is a police officer!” He looked ahead, noticing a bus.

 

“That’s my bus, see you later!” He bid you farewell, rushing to catch his bus.

 

You watched a piece of paper slip from his book and land on the ground, and he was in such a hurry he didn’t even notice. You called after him to gain his attention, but he was already slipping onto his bus and the bus was leaving, giving you no opportunity to return the picture. You sighed, flipping the picture over to look at it.

 

Your heart immediately dropped when you saw what was on the picture. The side of a building, covered in graffiti, the name “Yuta” in large print with a singular spray paint can underneath it.


	9. Haechan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the halfway point finally!

For some reason, you insisted on coming to the school library to study. It was becoming hard to do that though when you had a kid staring you down every time he saw you.

 

You didn’t know him that well; he was a same year, but he wasn’t in any of your classes. However, you had heard his name from some of your classmates. Donghyuck, or as he liked to be called, Haechan, was apparently a class clown. He had a good sense of humor, always making people laugh and running around with a mischievous smile. He had large, circle-rim glasses always perched on his nose and they would have been overbearing if they didn’t fit him so perfectly.

 

He always carried around a book with a hard, metallic cover. The silver of the book was almost like a mirror, reflecting any kind of light or faces that it happened to catch. He had stickers emblazoned with his name plastered on the front of it, making sure everyone knew who the owner was. You didn’t know the book’s contents, but you never even knew if Haechan was reading it, because it only ever served to hide his face when he wanted to spy on other folks or hide his expression.

 

And he had been spying on you the past couple weeks or so and while you had gotten over the initial discomfort you felt about being stared at for minutes on end, your curiosity grew as you wondered what he wanted from you. You two had never interacted, so why was he suddenly so enamored by you? Was it some kind of prank you were unaware of?

 

He never talked to you, so that made it easy enough to ignore him and focus on whatever tasks were at hand. But every time you came here you managed to encounter him. At first you thought it was just coincidence you happened to be in the library at the same time, but it was now an every day occurrence and you could tell he was specifically seeking you out. But for what reason?

 

It concerned you, but at the same time you were too busy to make it a priority. You focused on school as you usually did.

 

One day, Haechan stopped showing up in the library. You saw him walking around school, but didn’t see him in the library anymore. You figured he had finally gotten busy and that was why he had stopped showing up. You felt oddly empty without him, staring you down during your study sessions. You were much more distracted, looking around to see if you could spot him, but you never caught a glimpse of him in the library.

 

This went on for several weeks, and eventually, you got used to not seeing him. You almost forgot it was a thing that had even happened until he had suddenly appeared in front of you. This time at the table you sat. Normally, he sat at another table, but this time he was right in front of you, staring you down.

 

You cautiously took a seat and took out your study materials. You tried to study in peace, but your curiosity got the best of you. When you asked him where he had been the past few weeks, he lowered the book to his chin, a teasing smile on his face.

 

“Why, did you miss me?” You didn’t particularly, so you told him that he had been so abruptly absent you were curious if something had happened. He shook his head.

 

“Nah, nothing happened, but I can tell because you asked me, you really _did_ miss me.” Haechan said it rather smugly, and you just decided it’d be best to let him believe what he wanted to believe.

 

“Besides, if you were bothered by it or anything, I figured you would have reported me or something.” The smugness in his voice seemed to have increased with this statement, but it was well deserved, because he was right. You had plenty of opportunities to report Haechan for his behavior, but you didn’t. You didn’t have anything else to add, so you just gave Haechan a small smile and returned back to your work. Or you tried to.

 

Now having had a small opportunity to talk to you, Haechan took full opportunity of it. He wanted to know what you were studying, he wanted to know when you would be finished, and he began talking about a bunch of inane things that really had nothing to do with your work. You learned things about Haechan’s friends you figured you probably shouldn’t know. But you still indulged him by answering his questions, even though it was very distracting to your work.

 

After spending a bit of time in the library, you decided it’d be best to go home, as it was getting late. You told Haechan he should do the same and bid him farewell. He was quick to follow behind you, however.

 

You were amused to see Haechan still managed to find things to talk about even hours later.


	10. Chenle

The classroom was eerily silent as Chenle entered. He quietly walked to his desk in the back of the classroom. He had marked the desk day one of classes by carving his name all over the desk with a knife he carried around. He had been reprimanded and suspended several times for carrying it around, but he still did so anyway. It was a wonder he hadn’t been expelled for it yet.

 

It probably had something to do with his extraordinarily rich parents, who donated gracious amounts of money to the school and never did anything to control his behavior. If they even knew how to; they seemed as scared of their son as anyone else was.

 

Chenle practically had the whole school wrapped around his thumb.

 

He hardly ever paid attention in class. If he wasn’t cutting up his desk, he had some small wood carving with him that he spent all day cutting up. He knew how much it bothered everyone and that’s why he kept doing it. It was like he fed off of the fear everyone radiated when he had that knife in hand.

 

No one talked to him or made eye contact with him. Everyone basically pretended he didn’t exist, but at the same time knew that he did. Even now, as he sat in the back of the classroom carving at some piece of wood he took from his backpack, your classmates all sent him sideways glances and whispered about him from where they were. He ignored all of them, although certain statements sometimes made him stop cutting and look at whoever uttered them, scaring the speakers into submission before continuing on.

 

Even when the teacher entered and began her lesson, you all pretended he didn’t exist, even as the cutting of the wood tore into your head at every opportunity. You felt you heard it even when you weren’t in class.

 

Class was over soon enough, but you still had cram schools to attend afterward. It was late, you were exhausted, and you just wanted to go home and sleep. You stumbled along home, not really paying attention to where you were going. You kicked along a pebble, watching it glide across the sidewalk.

 

You bumped into something soft and believing it to be a person, you began to apologize. Your apology died when you saw who it was, Chenle, staring you dead in the face with a hand raised to a tree. He had carved a very neat “Chenle” into the tree, with a couple of other slash marks somewhere nearby.

 

It was quite dark outside at this point and you couldn’t help your heart from racing. Not only was Chenle infamous in school, he was infamous in the neighborhood. He and his family lived in the largest house on the block, one that had been several centuries old. It had a foreboding aura to it, one that left the entire neighborhood cautious of going near it, and it didn’t help who lived inside it.

 

He had been caught roaming around the neighborhood at night before by others, but this was your first time seeing him out and about so late. You didn’t even know what to say to him, so you quickly muttered an apology and tried to hurry on your way. However, Chenle was quick to grab you by the crook of your elbow, causing you to turn and look at him again.

 

He lowered his hand to yours, grabbing it and flipping it over so the palm was facing him. He reached into his pocket and placed something in your closed fist. Wordlessly, he turned around and walked away.

 

Baffled, you opened up your fist and saw a small, wooden bear. Chenle had just gifted you with one of his small projects.


	11. Taeil

You had heard a lot about the kid with the Rubik’s cube. A lot as in, he was a strange kid no one really talked to, but everyone was fascinated by him. This was your first semester having classes with him, so it was your first time actually seeing him.

 

He sat in the back of all his classes playing with various crazy colored cubes, but his favorite was a silver one with his name engraved on it, “Taeil”. He liked finding the various ways he could complete the cube with his name lined up in various ways, like a crossword puzzle mixed into a Rubik’s cube. If the cube was completed, he would spin various sides no making much effort to do anything with it.

 

Another one of his quirks was the long slivers of silver foil streamers that he carried in his backpack and were found strewn all over campus. No one knew what he had them for; people just assumed it was to go along with his love of the color silver.

 

Taeil was always the first one to class and the last one to leave, always playing with a Rubik’s cube, and he never talked to anyone or paid attention to class. He was apparently very smart; one of the top 5% in the school. He always showed up to class and passed all his exams with flying colors, so teachers didn’t really care about the odd behavior he displayed. He would sometimes even leave a Rubik’s cube behind, but everyone knew who it belonged to, so it would just be left there for him to play with next class.

 

He was an enigma to everyone; students were intrigued by him and teachers were just confused, but no one was complaining.

 

One day you happened to arrive early enough that it was only you and Taeil in the classroom. You took a seat in a chair that was directly next to his; you liked to sit in the back because it kept you away from all the chatterboxes who could potentially distract you or otherwise ask you about what was going on. Taeil was odd, but he was also quiet.

 

You began playing with your phone, but was startled when a Rubik’s cube had been tossed onto your desk. You blinked at it, before turning to look at Taeil who was staring at you. He pulled out another cube from his backpack, looking over the cube before he began fiddling with it.

 

“How fast can you solve a Rubik’s cube?” He asked, and you didn’t know, because you never did solve one. You turned to look at the cube and you were reminded of the childhood memories of owning one of these cubes. You fiddled around with it for a few days before growing frustrated and leaving it alone after that. You had never touched one since.

 

When you turned back to Taeil to tell him as much, you were shocked to find that Taeil had the cube completely solved.

 

“My fastest time is ten seconds.” He said with a smile.

 

You heard the chatter of other students coming into the class and Taeil promptly stopped talking to you, pulling out an oddly shaped Rubik’s cube from his bag to replace the one he had just completed.

 

You looked back at the one on your desk and picked it up. Taeil hadn’t asked for it back, so you assumed he was giving it to you?

 

You whispered to him, asking if you could keep it. He shrugged, but didn’t reach to take it back, so you assumed you could keep it.

 

As you slipped it into your bag, you thought about asking him later for some tips and tricks.


	12. Kun

You were utterly mortified. There were dozens of girls inside the store, all of them crowding around the counter, some with plants, and some trying to peer into the back to get a look at the botanical garden. Your coworkers were trying to calm them down, but it was quite chaotic and you were very overwhelmed.

 

You were a new hire, this being your third day on the job, and you picked this job thinking it would be easy work, but you were surprised to see how many girls were here. You didn’t think teenage girls would be that interested in plants.

 

Later that night, as you were all cleaning up from the chaos from the morning, your coworkers explained to you that they weren’t. They were all showing up to get a look at the young man who worked in the back. His name was Kun and you barely had any contact with him. You saw him once when he came into the store in the morning and once when he left in the evening. He spent all his time in the back in the garden, taking care of all of the plants.

 

Your coworkers then began gossiping about the boy, explaining that he freaked them out, but he was really popular with the customers because of his attractive looks. He garnered a lot of business, so the shop’s owner wouldn’t get rid of him despite what your coworkers claimed was “creepy” behavior.

 

You didn’t even have to ask them what they meant by “creepy” behavior, because they immediately launched into whispered tangents.

 

“He never talks to us,” one of them said, adding, “even when you speak to him, he just ignores you.”

 

“And if you do talk to him and he does take notice of you, he glares at you. He looks at the plants much nicer than he looks at us.” Another added.

 

Some even believed he just stayed at the shop all night, but you knew that wasn’t true when you saw him leaving at night. You stood by awkwardly as your coworkers muttered curses about Kun, wondering why the girls were so taken with him. You almost felt like defending him, but you didn’t want to get on anyone’s bad side. You needed the money so you eventually picked up a broom and began sweeping up plant remains in order to stay out of the conversation.

 

Eventually your coworkers began filing out, as you had been left with the task of closing down the store. None of the rest of them wanted to deal with Kun so they left it up to you to close the store and tell him to leave. This wasn’t your job, but it was you against several of them so you figured it wouldn’t be worth it to fight against you. You could always just file a complaint later anyway.

 

Besides, you actually wanted to see how Kun acted for yourself.

 

Putting away your broom, you pulled back the plastic curtain that separated the garden from the shop up front. It was a small garden, but meticulously well cared for. It made sense with the way Kun was in the garden all day.

 

You quickly spotted him, crouched near some flowers, looking them over and gently touching their petals. He was quite nicely dressed to be working in a garden, you thought, in slacks and a rather fancy looking turtleneck and blazer. However, there wasn’t a speck of dirt on him. He looked as prim and proper as when he came in to work that morning.

 

Perched on his head was a small, thin, golden crown. It had various foliage threaded through it and it was quite pretty in your opinion. It formed his name on the left side of his head and you wondered where he got it from. You had heard your coworkers say that he had been wearing it for quite some time now, but didn’t wear it when he originally started working there.

 

His head turned to look at you, having heard you enter the garden, but he quickly went back to looking at the plants.

 

Now that he knew you were here, you figured there was no turning back now. You slowly made your way to him, your steps making audible noises on the garden’s hard floor. He didn’t look at you at all on your journey to him, his focus entirely on the plants in front of him.

 

You crouched beside him once you reached him looking at the same flowers he was looking at. They were named _Bellis perennis_ , or, the common daisy, which you learned from the sign directly in front of them.

 

The two of you were crouched in relative silence for a few moments, but eventually you told him gently that it was time to leave and close up, but if he wanted to spend a little more with the plants that was okay.

 

Kun looked your way after you said this to him, but you couldn’t gauge any emotions from him. He turned to look at the flowers before nodding at you.

 

“Okay.” He said softly. You decided to leave him alone and finish some last minute things inside the front. As you were finishing up, Kun arrived from the garden, as spotless as ever. You were still amazed he could keep such a fancy outfit spotless. You wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something so nice in a place where dirt and water were commonplace.

 

He stood by the door to the shop, watching you as you put up your apron and locked down a few more things. He was waiting for you.

 

When you approached him, you noticed one of the daisies he had been crouched by earlier in his hand. You wanted to ask him what it was for, but before you could he handed it to you. He gave you a small smile and a wave before leaving the store.

 

Looking down at the daisy you smiled. Kun wasn’t much of a talker, but he was charming in his own way.


End file.
